Incentives Archives - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources

The American comic retailer organization ComicsPro recently released the results from an internal poll questioning which incentives from publishers do the most to increase their orders of a particular book.

Although ComicsPro’s Amanda Emmert didn’t elaborate as to how many retailers responded, the percentages reveal a lot. According to the survey, 63 percent of comics retailers who responded said that discounts for larger orders of a book are the most effective incentive for them. This outpaced other incentives by a 3:1 ratio, with returnability and free additional comics coming in at around 20 percent each. Of all responses, none said alternative covers were an effective means to stoke retailer’s purchase orders.

Emmert added at the end that smaller comic retailers might be more welcoming of free copies and returnable comics, while “larger retail accounts look more for deep discount offers, although the correlation was anecdotal.”

It’s worth a look for anyone working in the publishing — or creative — side of the comic industry, and even armchair comics quarterbacks like you and me.